XML Telemetric & Command Exchange (XTCE)

This specification is an information model for
spacecraft telemetry and commanding data.For a given mission there are a number of lifecycle phases that
are supported by a variety of systems and organizations.Additionally, many of these organizations support multiple
heterogeneous missions using a common ground segment infrastructure.
Telemetry and command definitions must be exchanged among all of these
phases, systems, and organizations. This is made difficult and costly
because there is no standard method for exchanging this information. The
lack of standardization currently requires custom ingestion of the
telemetry and commanding information. This customization is inherently
error-prone, resulting in the need to revalidate at each step in the
lifecycle.

A typical example of this process is between the
spacecraft manufacturer and spacecraft-operating agency. The spacecraft
manufacturer defines the telemetry and command data in a format that is
much different than the one used in the ground segment. This creates the
need for database translation, increased testing, software
customization, and increased probability of error. Standardization of
the command and telemetry data definition format will streamline the
process allowing dissimilar systems to communicate without the need for
the development of mission specific database import/export tools.

Ideally,
a spacecraft operator should be able to transition from one ground
system to another by simply moving an already existing command and
telemetry database compliant with this command and telemetry database
specification.